Apparatus for making seamless tubes



May 19, 1925. 1,538,118

M. w. KELLOGG ET AL APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEAMLESS TUBES Filed April 6, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 Q" m M \vr fix Q IN VEN TORS M W/fELLOGt; MD By 5. IF HON/V05? May 19, 1925. 1,538,118

M. W. KELLOGG ET AL APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEAMLESS TUBES Filed April 6, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS MIX/#11056 A/v/D v15 f HON/Mil? We J75 AT ORNEYS Ell Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORRIS W. KELLOGG, OF BROOKVILLE, NEW YORK, AND EMIL F. HOLINGER, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGN'ORS TO THE M. W. KELLOGG COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SEAMLESS TUBES.

Application filed April 6,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MORRIS W. KELLOGG and EMIL F. HOLINGER, citizens of the United States, residing at Brookville, county of Nassau, State of New York, and at Jersey City, county of Hudson, State of New Jersey, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Seamless Tubes. of which the following is a full, clear, concise. and exact description.

This invention relates to apparatus .for making seamless tubes and for treating the same whereby the walls of the tubes may be changed in thickness and also whereby the diameter of the tube, being treated, may be altered. The invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with the man ufacture of seamless tubes of large diameter.

The primary object of the invention is to generally improve the apparatus for making such tubes, whereby the commercial production thereof may be increased. A further object of the invention is to so construct the apparatus and carry out the process that the expenditure of power required in treating the metal, as well as the friction incident to such operations may be reduced. while at the same time, the uality of the final product will be improved, because of the manner in which the metal is caused to flow, or be reshaped without weakening the tensile strength.

Other ob'ects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, after a consideration of the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side view partially in section showing the essential features of our improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is an end view thereof, looking from the right hand side of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a schematic drawing of the portion of the tube being formed, indicatin the relative positions of the rolls used for t at purpose. Fig. 4: is a similar schematic drawing looking from the right hand side of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing successive sections substantially on the lines A, B, C, D, E and F of Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the roll drivin pinions.

Briefly state our invention comprises ap- 1923- Serial No. 630,288.

paratus involving the use of what may be called the double pass method of treating the walls of a seamless tube, that is, rolling the same in such a manner that the outer and inner surfaces are caused to move relative to each other in such a manner as to make themetal flow in the desired form without undue friction and without injuring the quality or strength of the material.

In other words, we believe we are the first to suggest and adopt an apparatus whereby the outer and inner surfaces of the metal, as well as the metal between such surfaces are caused to flow in a certain definite manner without creating great or undue friction. The details of one form of apparatus for carrying out the process will now' be described.

Referring to the drawings, particularly Fig. 1 thereof, the numerals l and 2 indicate substantial uprights or standards,- which hold in position a stationary shaft or mandrel 3, the outer end of which extends horizontally toward the right as indicated at 4 and forms a support for head or housin 5, which carries the inner rolls 6, preferably three in number, arranged as indicated in Fig. 2. The head 5 is rigidly attached to the mandrel 4 by screws or similar devices indicated at 7 and consequently does not rotate. The rolls 6 are tapered as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, and are slightly concave, as concerns their intermediate circumferences. They are provided on their larger ends with a reversely tapered portion 8 adapted to engage a conical bearing roller 9, carried on the end of a bearing stud 10, the outer end of which is screw-threaded and is adapted to be adjustably held in position in Spider 11, carried by the end of the head 5. A set nut 12 maintains the screw-threaded bearing stud firmly in position and allows further inward and outward adjustment of the stud so that the position of the rolls 6 may be varied to determine the thickness of the metal treated between the forming or reducing rolls. The inner or smaller ends of the rolls 6 are connected with the driving shafts 14:, so as to cause them to be positively driven to produce the desired action on the inner surface of the tube. These rolls 6 are preferably made adjustable by reason of the fact that the inclination of the of the tube.

axes of the rolls determines the rate of feed and therefore are arranged so that the angle thereof'relative to the axis of the blank 13 may be adjusted to the desired angle, clearly indicated at Fig. 3. Said shafts being connected with the rolls 6, the outer ends of which are supported by the spider 11. do not require other supports and are sufliciently longto extend toward the left for such a distance as to allow the blank to be clear of the rolls 6 when inserted and without striln ing the apparatus at the left. The left hand ends of the shafts 14 are provided with pinions 16 and supported in bearings 17 projecting from the mandrel 4. The pinions 16 have tapering teeth, as shown in Fig. 6, to allow adjustment of the shafts 14 and engage tlg teeth of an internal gear 18, carried on the ring 19. The latter ring is provided with external teeth and with a groove which engages the inner side of a circular frame 20, forming a stationary. bearing for said rings 18 and 19. The external gear teeth of the ring 19 engage a pinion 21 (Fig. 2) carried on the end of a countershaft 22, similar to the so called back gear of an engine lathe. The opposite end of the shaft 21 is provided with a gear 23, which is adapted to engage a pinion 24 rota-ted by means of an electric motor 25 or other suitable mechanism adapted for that purpose.

The head 5 of the rolling mechanism is located within a suitable housing or frame 26, which supports, on its interior, a series of rolls 27 adapted to engage the exterior surface of the pipe or tube being formed. These rolls are also tapered or frusto-conical in form and preferably slightly concave as above described in connection with therolls 6. However the rolls 27 are preferably considerably larger than the inner rolls 6. These rolls 27 are arranged at an angle to the axis of the tube, which angle bears the same relation to the axis of said tube as do those of the rolls 6, but may be considerably greater in degree.

The relation of the rolls 6 and 27 as 'regards their contacts with the metal being treated will now be described.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, will be seen that the midlines of contact of the rolls 6 and 27 respectively cross at a point substantially midway between the ends of the effective contact surfaces; that is, the mid lines of contact are not parallel but are 0&- set at each end from each other, crossing at the central point above referred to. This will be more clearly illustrated by reference to Fig. 5. ln this figure A represents a cross sectional view of the rolls 6 and 27 just where they begin to act upon the metal this point the contact line of the roll 6 is above the contact line of the roll 27, and a line passing through the metal and connecting these contact lines would be the rolls and being slightly inclined as indicated in section A of Fig. 5. In section B of Fig. 5, the contact line of the roll 27 is slightly higher, as previously described, thus making a line passing through the metal and joining in the contact line, slightly less inclined. In section C of Fig. 5 the contact line of the roll 27 is still further raised so that the connecting line is still less inclined, while in section D the contact lines of the rolls are practically opposite each other, making the connecting line through the metal substantially horizontal. This is a condition indicated by the crossing of the contact lines on the line D in Fig. 3. In sections E and F of Fig.- 5, the connecting lines between the contact lines are inclined in the opposite direction, the inclination of the connectin lines in section F showing the final relation of the surfaces of greater than that in section E.

It will now be apparent that the tube being treated is rotated continuously by the inner rolls 6, and at the same time is fed toward the right as indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, the feeding action being determined by the angle of said rolls 6 in relation to the axis of the tube. From a consideration of Fig. 5, it will be seen that there is a combined bending and reducing action as the wall of the tube advances from primary contact with the rolls to the fmal contact therewi h. The bending action and reducing pressures of the rolls act relatively as is intlicated by the inclination of the lines cone necting the contact points in sections A to F inclusive of Fig. '5. This produces continuously, as the tube advances, an action in the nature of a peening action which simultaneously causes a flowing of the metal and compresses the wall of the tube, so that the tube is expanded, and, at the same time, reduced in thickness. It will be apparent that the diameter only of the tube need be changed, and the action of the rolls in such a case would be to alter the diameter of the tube without substantially changing the thickness of the walls. These various re sults may be brought about by appropriate adjustment of the rolls, which will be apparent from the description the rolls as above set fort Havin thus described one form of our improve apparatus and the results incident to the use thereof, we do not wish to be un derstood as being limited to the details of form or arrangement of parts above set forth, for various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential features of the invention.

What we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for making seamless tubes,

comprising a roll for operating upon one surface of the of of the operation of a cylindrical blanlr,

a roll having a stationary axis and being so located as to operate upon the opposite side of said Wall adjacent said first-named roll, said rolls having portions of progressively varying diameters, adapted to change both the inner and outer diameters of said blank in the same radial directions.

2. Apparatus for making seamless tubes comprising a roll..for operating upon one surface of the wall of a cylindrical blank, a roll having a stationary axis and being so located as to operate upon the opposite side of said Wall adjacent said first-named roll, said rolls having portions of progressively varying diameters, adapted to change both the inner and outer diameters of said blank in the same radial directions, and means for positively rotating one of said rolls about a stationary axis which is oblique to that of the blank. 1

3. Apparatus for making seamless tubes comprising a roll for operating upon the outer surface of the wall of a cylindrical blank, a roll having a stationary axis and being so located as to operate upon the inner side of said wall adjacent said outer roll, said rolls having portions of progressively varying diameters, adapted to change both the inner and outer diameters of said blank in the same radial directions, and means for positively rotating said inner roll about its axis which is oblique to that of the blank.

4. Apparatus for making seamless tubes comprising inner and outer rolls for'operating upon opposite adjacent surfaces of the wall of a cylindrical blank, and means for positively rotatin one of said rolls about a stationary axis w ich is oblique to that of the blank, said rolls having portions of progressively varying diameters, adapted to simultaneously reduce the thickness of said wall and'to bend the same to change both the inner and outer diameters of the blank in the same radial directions. 5. Apparatus for making seamless tubes comprising inner and outer rolls for operating upon opposite adjacent surfaces of the wall of a cylindrical blank, and means for positively rotatin the inner r011 about a stationary axis w ich is oblique to that of the blank, said rolls having portions of progressively varying diameters, adapted to simultaneously reduce the thickness of said wall and to bend the same to change the inner and outer diameters of the blank in the same radial directions.

Signed at New York, this 4th day of April, 1923.

MORRIS w. KELLOGG. EMIL F. HOLINGER. 

